LOS ANGELES — The big bang theory worked for the last Harry Potter movie, so it made sense to incorporate lots of explosive action into the Twilight finale.

Director Bill Condon made it so.

Opening Nov. 16 to a great deal of anticipation, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 features a confrontation in the showdown spirit of last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Before we get to the exciting Twilight ruckus, Edward (Robert Pattinson), Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) sort out their new arrangements.

In Part 2, Edward and Bella are married parents, and Bella has made the transition to vampire. Unfortunately, after the birth of their daughter Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), trouble is brewing. The evil Volturi clan has a strict rule about turning babies into vampires.

Unsure of the child’s status, the Volturi prepare to confront the Cullens and their new arrival even as the Cullen family invite other covens throughout the globe to testify on the new kid’s behalf.

Their presence might not be enough to save the child or head off a battle as the Cullens and their friends confront the Volturi in a frozen field of snow and ice.

One thing is certain; it’s the beginning of the end.

Pattinson, Stewart, Lautner and Condon gathered at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel recently to discuss separately Twilight’s last gleaming.

All were proud to say that they saved the best for last after four previous films earned fans hopeless devotion and more than $2.5 billion US.

The Part 2 price of admission might be worth seeing the vampire Bella racing through the woods after prey and smacking around Jacob, who has “imprinted” on her child.

“That scene is probably my favourite in the movie,” says Lautner of the brief fight. “It was a fun scene to shoot. And to see Kristen that way was incredible and hysterical.”

In fact, all of the Breaking Dawn sequences were demanding for Stewart, who sometimes had to play the passive pre-vampire Bella in the morning and the aggressive vampire Bella in the afternoon. That was during the filming of Parts 1 and 2 of Breaking Dawn simultaneously in and around New Orleans and Vancouver.

Condon says: “It’s no secret that I worship at the altar of Kristen Stewart.”

Apparently, she can play hurt, too.

“I broke my thumb the first or second day of our really intense, action-y type stuff,” recalls Stewart. “That was really frustrating. But I was bursting to do it. I think that’s why I broke my thumb.”

For Pattinson, the challenge was the same as it ever was. He had to depict perfection in turmoil, and he was never sure he achieved the ambivalence; an insecurity that dates back to his debut in 2008′s Twilight.

“You’re trying to play an archetype on one hand and a real character on the other, so I felt insanely frustrated, right up until the last shot, and then it ended,” Pattinson says of portraying Edward.

In fact, the least of Condon’s worries were the performances of his three leads in Breaking Dawn — Part 2.

His major concern was introducing 18 new vampire characters who arrive to pay witness at the Cullens’ request. “Everyone had to pop in a short period of time,” says the director.

The significant growth of Renesmee over a short stretch was more of a technical fine-tuning as 14 various-sized girls played Renesmee with Foy’s face added digitally on each in post-production. “It had to look photo-real,” he says.

And, for the first time in the series, Breaking Dawn — Part 2 exhibits “a self-aware sense of humour” thanks to a collaboration with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer.

“It’s not a wink,” Conlon notes. “But there is a different tone.”

He suggests that Michael Sheen’s Volturi leader Aro best exemplifies the double-edged wit in Part 2.

“Aro thinks of himself as being a sentimental old fool who likes to see what the young people are doing, and then he kills them,” says Sheen.

Still, fans of the novel might get a little persnickety with the pitched battle in the movie that doesn’t happen in the book. But the director says that they should know that the story invention was also a Rosenberg-Meyer idea.

When the zealot Twihards of all ages view the final film chapter, they will likely forgive the adjustments.

As it is, Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner are still hard-pressed to figure out the phenomenon even as it winds down.

Indeed, Stewart has given up trying to make sense of it, and is merely thankful to be finished with the cinema saga.

“I’m so happy the story is told that you have no idea,” she says of completing Bella’s arc. “The fact that (Breaking Dawn — Part 2) is out and it’s not weighing on us anymore is exciting.”

Then she clarifies: “I don’t want it to sound like I’m excited to be done with the experience because it’s such a particular time. It’s a feeling, and I will definitely miss that. But things shouldn’t stay stagnant.”

On the other hand, Lautner is trying to sort out his mixed emotions.

“It’s been four or five years, but at the same time, it seems like it was just beginning yesterday,” Lautner says. “I feel like I did do a decent job at this, but I knew when I was doing it, it would go by fast.”

“It’s going to take 10 years to really settle in my brain, and I’m four years into it.”

So why did Twilight catch on?

“I don’t think even the fans know why they connect with it the way they do,” Pattinson says.

“It’s a visceral thing. It’s just an anomaly … and that’s a terrible answer, but I don’t know.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.